Learning & training

‘Don’t fund level 6 and 7 apprenticeships’ say learning providers

Training providers have called on the government to remove the highest and degree level apprenticeships from the scope of funding...

Apprentices need more help with how to dress for work

Employers are four times more likely to worry about how their apprentices dress for work than they would about graduates,...

Spring statement: minimum wage review and early apprenticeship reforms

All the employment highlights from the Chancellor's spring statement...

Public sector contracts more likely to go to employers that ‘improve society’

Companies that do more to employ people from diverse backgrounds and reduce modern slavery will be first up for public...

UK must act to boost skills or face ‘perfect storm’ of decline

Cuts in public funding for adult skills and falling employer investment has led to the UK's skills base lagging behind that of comparable countries.

‘Use the apprenticeship levy to improve management’ – Cary Cooper

Improving the UK’s poor management performance is the definitive way to fix the economy, says organisational psychologist Professor Sir Cary...

Apprenticeships should be opened up to single parents

Most single parents are being locked out of apprenticeships because of a lack of part-time opportunities and the difficulty of supporting children with such low pay.

Don’t let levy criticism eclipse apprenticeship opportunities

It’s been a bad news week for apprenticeships. But Dr Susan Laing, Dean of Teesside University Business School, argues that...

Employers access a tenth of apprenticeship levy funds

The government is unlikely to reach its target of 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020 and there are “concerns about...

£400m apprenticeship levy underspend revealed

Only £268m was spent by levy-paying employers on apprentices in the programme's first year of operation, 2017-18. This equated to just 13% of the Treasury's £2.01bn apprenticeships budget and contributed to a £400m underspend.